Help for my brother please (Starting out on his own)

Gemmzie

So the time has come, my brother is set on moving out. I'm trying to get it into his head that he cannot afford to without financial support from his girlfriend (they'll be living together). So thought you guys could maybe help me put together a rough SOA for them?

His income is about £100-£150 per week now, he's self employed so needs to save for NI and Tax now too (didn't last year was under £4800). And save for holidays too.

They could rent for around £65-£85 per week, nothing included. Any ideas what council tax might be on this kind of property?

Water is fixed here at £45 a month (thank you holiday makers for that :rolleyes:), then electric, food, TV license, clothes, socialising. Anything else?

Then there's his car - will be paid off by then so tax, insurance, petrol.

Plus, possibly (:rolleyes:) she wants dogs. This is totally unrealistic but they need to see the black and white figures to see why.

Income
Brother - £400 - £600 (based on 48 weeks of the year)
GF - £0 (she will look for work after college)

Outgoing
Rent -
Council Tax -
Water -
Electric -
TV License - (isn't there an upfront higher DD for this??)
Food -
Socialising -
Clothes -
Car Tax - £10.50
Car Insurance - £130 (based on this year)
Petrol -


Any help is appreciated.

Yorkielass

Council tax wise the best thing to do is find some properties/roads in your area your brother might want to live in - then search for them on this site:

http://www.voa.gov.uk/cti/InitS.asp?lcn=0

You can find out exactly what band a property is.

So you should be able to get an idea of costs for that - and don't forget if his gf is at college full time they can get 25% off the council tax.

I know with a TV licence if you're paying by monthly DD you pay for the first one over 6 months so it's about £22 a month then change over to about £11 a month and buy over 12 months so you pay 6 months in advance of renewal date, 6 months in arrears.

Gemmzie

She won't be at college, she's unlikely to pass this year which is a BTEC. So I think she needs to be looking for full-time work if they are set on this.

Thanks for the info

ciarasdreams

Hi before I moved in with my sister I managed to get my gas and electric down to £35.00 per month but I had to live with hot water bottles in the winter and only switch things on when I really needed to. Will your brother be having a land line or internet when he moves because he will need to factor this in as well but the price as you know varies a lot with providers. While they are not earning very much could they maybe move into a houseshare with friends because it will be cheaper that way and they will be able to afford a nicer home/area than they would be able to on their own.

PasturesNew

My guesstimates:

Gemmzie wrote: »

Income
Brother - £400 - £600 (based on 48 weeks of the year)
GF - £0 (she will look for work after college)

Outgoing
Rent - £300 (mid point of £65-85)
Council Tax - £60 (band A, 2 of them)
Water - £45
Electric - £25
TV License - £12
Food - £100
Socialising - You must be joking! Stay in
Clothes - Forget it.
Car Tax - £10.50
Car Insurance - £11
Petrol - 20p/mile (includes something towards repairs), let's say 500 miles/month, which is under average, so 500*.20=£100
Contents Insurance - £10

TOTAL
=====
£671

They need to see if they'd get benefits, but don't hold any hopes.

GF needs to get a couple of jobs. Evenings, weekends, holidays.

Brother needs to get more work in. Double what he is doing now. Or get himself a part-time normal job so there's some fixed money coming in.

When I was 21-22 I had 3 jobs. Full-time PA in an office; evenings telephone canvassing for double glazing/conservatories; weekends on the till at a petrol station.

Gemmzie

ciarasdreams wrote: »

Hi before I moved in with my sister I managed to get my gas and electric down to £35.00 per month but I had to live with hot water bottles in the winter and only switch things on when I really needed to. Will your brother be having a land line or internet when he moves because he will need to factor this in as well but the price as you know varies a lot with providers. While they are not earning very much could they maybe move into a houseshare with friends because it will be cheaper that way and they will be able to afford a nicer home/area than they would be able to on their own.

I totally forget telephone, BT is about £12 for line rental isn't it? Not sure about broadband, they'd probably like it, but it's whether they can afford it.

There aren't many house shares around here, have to go a bit further to towns with students. Might be an option though

Gemmzie

PasturesNew wrote: »

They need to see if they'd get benefits, but don't hold any hopes.

GF needs to get a couple of jobs. Evenings, weekends, holidays.

Brother needs to get more work in. Double what he is doing now. Or get himself a part-time normal job so there's some fixed money coming in.

When I was 21-22 I had 3 jobs. Full-time PA in an office; evenings telephone canvassing for double glazing/conservatories; weekends on the till at a petrol station.

They might get a small amount of HB, not a lot though. They'll both be 18.

Yes I agree.

He works full-time, he's learning a trade and his money is going up all the time.

Thanks, that's about what I thought, so they both need to be earning about £1500 take home a month between them to live comfortably really?

ciarasdreams

Sorry I was only guessing at possibilities because I was unsure about whereabouts you are in the country. If it is any help at all I lived in the north east for a while which was much cheaper than at home and I really struggled to get by let alone live on just over £1,300.00 per month although I had debts to pay as well.

Gemmzie

Luckily they have no debts, and he'll own his car outright too. So that'll help.

I'm in Cornwall, one of the most expensive parts of the country to live!